Robin, I love that juvie catbird shot. I've banded a lot of catbirds, including a lot of juvies, and you captured their demeanor perfectly!

One of the birds I got a lot of pics of in Alaska was the Orange-crowned Warbler. These were all the brighter yellow lutescens subspecies. And in a few of the images I managed to actually capture the orange crown, which I have only seen once before. It's one of those field marks that works if you have shot a bird and have it in your hand; it's pretty useless for IDing free-living individuals!

--------------Flesh of the sky, child of the sky, the mindHas been obligated from the beginningTo create an ordered universeAs the only possible proof of its own inheritance. - Pattiann Rogers

Thanks! I'll return the compliment - that's a great shot of the Orange-Crowned Warbler. We theoretically have them in my neck of the woods (northern Virginia), but I've never seen one as far as I know.

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

OK, here's one from last week at malheur ... I just finished sorting through about 700 images tossing those that I'd missed tossing while shooting (i.e. focus miss, camera shake, bird flown from view while shutter button being clicked) so am a bit tired of Photoshop, but I'll convert a few more over the next few days to share ...

I actually had a Virginia Rail walk up to me at the Occoquan National Wildlife Refuge. I was so stunned I just stood there gawking with my camera at my side. It walked off into some reeds and then came back to me a second time and I still didn't have the presence of mind to shoot a pic. Gaah!

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

He definitely is. He's 8 yrs old, and is one of the very few bison in that herd to have never had an ear tag. He was born in 2004, and, unlike all of the other calves that year, did not get lured into the corral for the fall roundup and tagging, de-worming, weighing, etc. And he's stayed out of the roundup ever since.

Gorgeous beast. And massive, yes.

--------------Flesh of the sky, child of the sky, the mindHas been obligated from the beginningTo create an ordered universeAs the only possible proof of its own inheritance. - Pattiann Rogers

Thanks for the compliment! And actually no - I'm shooting a standard 18-55mm that came with the camera body. I think I'd like to get a 60 mm macro at some point, but I'm still trying to decide what would work best for the type of things I like to shoot.

ETA: Scratch that - the Pondhawk, Argiope, and Black Swallowtail were all shot with my 70-300mm if you can believe it. The spider was waaaay back in some brush and marsh area that I didn't think I should trample through and the swallowtail and Pondhawk were a bit too jittery to get close to (although, the Pondhawk did land on my leg for a bit). The other dragonfly - the one I've not yet IDed, let me pretty much set the lens on him (her?), so that one was shot with the 18-55mm. Almost all the other butterflies and dragonflies I've shot have been done with the 18-55mm.

Edited by Robin on Aug. 13 2012,09:33

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

Thanks Erasmus! Not sure how I missed the Pondhawk, but yes, that's the female! I'll keep working on the other one as I'm sure it's in one of the reference manuals I have.

It's always fun to watch that species, even though it's rather common and widespread. The females not only look but also behave quite differently.

I believe the first one is a Libellulid but I'm not sure which. It's a slightly oblique angle but I think I can see the boot in the hindwing cells

Yeah, I really like watching the pondhawks...that are spectacular.

We had a neat outting yesterday in Occoquan. There's a dried up flood pond in the park that had a bunch of dragonflies and butterflies. This one dragonfly - a Great Blue Skimmer I think - kept flying over to us on this dock and just hovering about 2 feet from us for a few seconds and then it would just float off. I tried to get a shot of it just hovering there, but it was just too quick and didn't come back to the same spot each time.

And thanks for the help IDing these guys. It's always nice to get a little info on the things I've been seeing.

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

How'd you narrow that down? Sure does look like a female of that species but the amber color in the wingtips was confusing, the ones i see are usually darker (black, even).

"immature" you mean teneral? When a dragonfly emerges from the nymphal exuvia, it will never be any more "mature" LOL

I found a couple of sites on the variations of Odonata and just went through the pics. And yes, the term "immature" is inaccurate (sorry 'bout that) - it should be teneral. The sites I read noted that some colors will be much lighter right after teneral and will become darker over time. Perhaps the amber color on the wingtips will become darker over time, but the other characteristics of the female Great Blue seem to match up with my pic.

ETA: Here's a pic someone else notes as a female Great Blue Skimmer that seems to show much more amber/brown wingtips than black:

Seems like a match to what I shot.

Edited by Robin on Aug. 14 2012,09:57

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis